ওয়াশিংটন বাংলা রেডিও Washington Bangla Radio USA

WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec 13, 2011 (Washington Bangla Radio) The Choral Arts Society of Washington and the Washington Performing Arts Society (WPAS) M

en, Women, and Children of the Gospel Choirs will again join together to present the 24th annual “Living the Dream…Singing the Dream” choral tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall on January 22, 2012, at 7 p.m. This rich musical collaboration will commemorate the legacy of the great civil rights leader through music conducted by Norman Scribner and Stanley J. Thurston. The program includes a diverse selection of works, including classical music, gospel hymns and moving spirituals.

Retiring Choral Arts Founder Scribner first began the tribute in 1969 to use music to unite communities that had been torn apart by violence and misunderstanding following Dr. King’s assassination and the ensuing race riots. NAACP Chairman Julian Bond will present Scribner with this year’s Annual Humanitarian Award at what will be his final MLK Tribute after decades of service.

Who: WPAS Men, Women and Children of the Gospel Choir, Stanley J. Thurston, artistic director The Choral Arts Society of Washington Norman Scribner, artistic director What: Living the Dream…Singing the Dream: A tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King

“WPAS is delighted to participate with Choral Arts Society in this important event. We are especially pleased that our dear colleague, the legendary choral leader Norman Scribner, will be awarded this year's Humanitarian Award. A pillar of Washington's musical community, Norman has devoted his life to inspiring Washington's singers into producing glorious choral music,” says WPAS President and CEO Neale Perl.

Having witnessed first-hand the racial riots that swept the country and divided Washington after Dr. King’s untimely assassination, Scribner chose to honor Dr. King’s peaceful words through a medium that everyone can understand: music. Scribner orchestrated integrated, community-focused musical celebration concerts beginning the year after Dr. King’s death with the commission of ONCE – In Memoriam: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Last year, for the first time, the WPAS Men, Women and Children of the Gospel Choirs combined their popular annual gospel showcase with Choral Arts’ Martin Luther King tribute for a concert that left audiences dancing in the aisles.    Choral Arts' annual celebration of Dr. King has expanded over the years to include a concert for students, a student writing competition and an Annual Humanitarian Award. Beginning in 2004, Choral Arts began honoring individuals who personified Dr. King’s message of non-violence. Previous recipients of the Annual Humanitarian Award include Dr. Dorothy Height (2004), John Lewis (2005), Marian Wright Edelman (2006), Harris Wofford (2007), Julian Bond (2008), John Doar, Esq. (2009), Charlayne Hunter-Gault (2010), and Bernice Johnson Reagan (2011).

Since the early 1990s, WPAS' Men, Women and Children of the Gospel Choirs have performed annually at prestigious venues throughout the Washington metropolitan area, offering audiences programs featuring inspirational gospel music. The choir has featured works by local and national gospel composers while sharing the stage with an array of artists such as Sweet Honey In The Rock, Ramsey Lewis, Beverly Crawford, Dottie Peoples, Dorinda Clark-Cole, Myrna Summers, Donnie McClurkin, and Yolanda Adams.  The 150-voice choir has worked with an array of local choral and music directors such as Valeria Foster, the late Arphelius Paul Gatling III, Patrick Lundy, Linda Hall, Alece Morgan, Dr. Diane L. White, Joyce Garrett and Evelyn Simpson-Curenton and is currently under the artistic directorship of Stanley J. Thurston. In addition to their annual productions, the WPAS Choirs have also participated in community events including the Inaugural Prayer Service for President Barack Obama at the Washington National Cathedral, the 2009 Helen Hayes Awards at Warner Theatre, a U.S. State Department Luncheon in January 2009, with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra at the Harman Center for the Arts, with Sweet Honey In The Rock at Carnegie Hall (New York, NY) and with the Ramsey Lewis Trio at the Music Center at Strathmore.

Now celebrating its 47th season under the leadership of its Founder and Artistic Director Norman Scribner, Choral Arts is Washington’s premier symphonic chorus.  The chorus has performed with leading symphony orchestras, including the National Symphony Orchestra, those of London, Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland and the Paris Opera, as well as the New York, Czech, and Israel Philharmonics.  They have also sung under the world’s most distinguished conductors including Valery Gergiev, Mstislav Rostropovich, Leonard Slatkin, Lorin Maazel, Leonard Bernstein, Antal Doráti, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Yuri Temirkanov and many others.  Choral Arts has produced 18 acclaimed recordings, most recently Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (Symphony of a Thousand).

Funded in part by the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in part by National Endowment for the Arts.

The Choral Arts Society of Washington is a leading symphonic chorus in the nation’s capital, performing an annual concert series at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Now in its 47th season and the legacy season of retiring Founder and Artistic Director Norman Scribner, Choral Arts pays homage to contemporary and classical choral masterpieces as it journeys through the works of Bernstein, Brahms, Lauridsen, Prokofiev, Stravinsky and more. The Choral Arts Chorus has sung under the batons of legendary conductors, such as Eschenbach, Gergiev, Rostropovich and Slatkin, and alongside world-class orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Mariinsky Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra and more. Choral Arts serves local and global audiences through national and international tours, 18 acclaimed CD recordings, electronic media, televised events and award-wining education and community outreach programming.

Washington Performing Arts Society (WPAS) is one of the nation’s leading nonprofit, multidisciplinary performing arts presenting organizations. Its three-part mission is to provide the Washington community with performing arts presentations of the highest quality and of varied content and tradition, to support and nurture performing artists and their art forms and to provide lifelong learning opportunities through arts education, youth involvement and community partnerships.

WPAS is delighted to participate with Choral Arts Society in this important event. We are especially pleased that our dear colleague, the legendary choral leader Norman Scribner, will be awarded this year's Humanitarian Award. A pillar of Washington's musical community, Norman has devoted his life to inspiring Washington's singers into producing glorious choral music.

When: Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 7 p.m.

Where: Kennedy Center Concert Hall

Tickets $25-$45 at 202-785-9727 or www.choralarts.org